The city of Oakland, CA has filed a lawsuit against its recycling service provider, California Waste Solutions, in Alameda County Superior Court over a “draftsman’s error” that allows the company to charge significantly more than intended​ for moving recycling bins, as reported by SFGate.
Single-family homeowners are charged $27.85 to have their recycling bins pulled to the curb and that fee was supposed to be the same for residents in multi-unit buildings. Instead, the contract allows California Waste Solutions to charge up to $776.13 for this service at multi-unit buildings. That fee is meant for full-size dumpsters, not standard bins. While no one has reported the company charging this full amount yet, multiple customers have seen rate increases since the city’s current contract began in 2015. The city is suing to cap the rate at its intended amount and recuperate an unspecified amount of overcharges, with interest, that resulted from the higher rate. …

…Now, Waste Management is taking another route to fight CWS’ award — collecting signatures from voters in the hopes of passing a referendum to overturn the council’s decision. Waste Management, a Texas-based corporation, has hired local political strategist Larry Tramutola to help lead the referendum effort, according to David Tucker, director of community and public relations for Waste Management. Tucker told me that the company began collecting signatures over the weekend and has to turn in petitions within thirty days of the city finalizing its decision to award the garbage contract to CWS. That means that by September 26, Waste Management has to collect roughly 21,000 eligible signatures, representing 10 percent of the city’s voters. If successful, the award of the contract to CWS would be put on hold until Oakland voters have an opportunity to directly weigh in on a referendum overturning the city’s ordinances authorizing CWS to take over the franchise. …

The nation’s biggest trash hauler sued the city of Oakland on Monday claiming that the City Council illegally steered a $1 billion contract to a local garbage company with which it has “personal and political connections.” The suit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court by Waste Management, claims that Oakland’s City Council at the last minute steered the 10-year contract to collect garbage, recycling and compost in Oakland to an ill-prepared local company over the objections of city staffers, who argued the big Texas firm was in the best position to win the deal. The council awarded the contract to California Waste Solutions, a West Oakland recycling company that, the suit said, had not held a garbage-hauling contract in the United States, submitted proposals that were late and did not comply with the city’s contracting rules. In addition, the city gave that company confidential information about Waste Management’s pricing and proposal, the suit said. The suit asks the court to overturn that decision and effectively award the contract to Waste Management….

Waste Management of Alameda County received more good news Friday, a day after the company reached a tentative contract with its 481 locked-out drivers. Oakland officials said at a City Hall press conference that the city will withdraw both its request for an injunction against the company and a request for penalties for a contempt-of-court charge.

A judge weighed in Tuesday on a labor dispute that has left piles of trash on Oakland’s streets and ordered a refuse company that locked out its unionized drivers to pick up the rotting garbage. Responding to a request from city lawyers, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Richard Keller issued a temporary restraining order saying Waste Management of Alameda County must fulfill the terms of its municipal contract…

Oakland city officials are taking legal action against Waste Management of Alameda County to force it to collect trash that has piled up since it locked out its drivers earlier this month. “We want the garbage picked up,” Mayor Ron Dellums said. …